After a fish Illness

[tttnjfttt]

This past week, I've lost two fish, one from fish TB, another from an unknown causes. Because of the TB and what looked like an infected sore, my 20 gal is being treated with antibiotics, whihc today is the last day for. I have a few questions about what to do now.

#1 - How long after antibiotics (Maracyn and Maracyn 2) can I safely do water changes and add back in the carbon filter?

#2 - I need to steralize a bunch of stuff...a 5 gal bucket, a 10 gal tank, an external filter, a filter spounge, a plastic palnt, a heater, a thermomiter, and two nets. Any suggestions?

#3 - How long should I watch my fish for signs of illness before buying new fish?

#4 - After using the spare spounge in my hospital tank for a day (this was with the infected sore, fish died), I was desperate to jump start a fishless cycle, so I took a small piece from the hospital spounge and put it into the tank I was cycling. Should I also sterilize the tank I was cycling and restart the fishless cycle?

 

[sylvia]

1. Are your fish all cured then? When would you normaly do your next water change? Unless the instructions with the meds. say otherwise, do your water change at the same time as you would normaly do it if you hadn't been treating. You need not actualy add carbon at all as the meds. are biodegradeable (and any remains will get taken out by water changes anyway) but, if you are going to do the water change, you may as well add the carbon also (I preffer not to so as to allow the meds to go gradualy - fewer fluctuations - at least for a couple of weeks).

2. Weak bleach solution (and hot water where appropriate). Rinse VERY thoroughly!

3. IMO, at least a month. Others, I'm sure, wills ay 2 weeks but I think the more you wait the mroe certain you'll be and the fewer risks you'll be taking.

4. Would probably be best if you did. However, if you leave the tank running with no fish for a while ( a couple of months for example), you should be safe. There's no point though - sterilizing and re-doing the fishless cycle would be quicker over-all.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I was treating the 20 gal more as a preventative measure becaue of the fish TB. I haven't noticed any new sick fish for a week now, so I think I'm safe. But at the same time, I've had a bacterial bloom in my tank, so I really can't see my fish to check on them. Thats why I'm so antsy with the water changes. I don't really have a set water change schedule yet... Still in the new tank stage so I've had a few mini-cycles, which means alot of water changes. When everything stays stable, I do them weekly.